Tag Archives: Fashionair

I could spend all day up to my eyeballs in fashion websites and blogs. But when it really comes down to it, the one that’s racked up a truly absurd amount of hours most recently, is my latest find: Fashionair.com.

Perhaps you recall the video I posted about a week back of Christian Louboutin tap dancing?

Well, the site is home to the only viewable version of that video and so many more.

They’re specialty: video journalism, and lots of it.

The brainchild of Sojin Lee, previously head of retail and buying at Net-a-Porter, debuted this past September in response to what Lee saw as a gaping hole in the world of fashion blogs.

In a phone call with the New York Observer’s Daily Transom, Lee explains:

I felt there was a huge hole in the marketplace when it came to an immersive fashion web experience. You either had retail sites or magazine sites or bloggers, but you didn’t have anyone that pulled them all together. The democratization of fashion is really important because that’s what the Internet has provided and it just made sense to celebrate the breadth of fashion and bring all that information to the consumer.

And that is quite specifically what he’s doing– gathering together the expanse of fashion info and packaging it in a way that is completely accessible. The site is split up into four categories: Fashion Bites, Shopping, People and Personal Style.

Fashion Bites provides a daily dollop of FashionAIR favorites, with links to check out on everything from food to designers to new bloggers. Shopping pulls together clothing from all across the Web and allows users to shop by criteria like style, body shape, item or location. It also links to their series of Style Council videos that give a tutorial on how to wear a certain look or item. People is quite possibly my favorite section, and simply consists of magazine-style video features on important fashion characters, like this cool glimpse into life as Margherita Missoni. Finally, in Personal Style video series’ like 7 Days of Chic, Style Profile, and Closet Quick Hit give the viewer a peek into the individual taste of famous style icons as well as that random adorable gal you see on the street.

While the site could do a bit more in terms of involving their audience, and organizing their information, what I find most innovative about this site is that they’re using video as a single form of communication– you’ll find no articles on this site. But why would you want to read about style when you can watch those who embody it?

FashionAIR almost takes on the role of a television station, but one that you can watch at any time. Their different series’ are produced on a regularly basis, so that new episodes are constantly being made, almost in the same way that a tv show would work. It seems that this could be a completely new and very popular form of online journalism because the reader, or viewer really, can essentially sit back and enjoy the show.

By picking and having access to fascinating individuals who people care about, and presenting them in a way that feels personal– like having designer Even Fetherston take you to her favorite Paris spots– people will always want more. And quite unlike watching TV, they can have it whenever they’d like.

FashionAIR is showing its viewers the interworkings– not just the collection on a runway– but the actual human behind it all. What they talk like, what their house looks like, their mannerisms. It’s the kind of stuff people are hungry for. The kind of stuff people want to see.

Or well, the full version of “Dancer in a Daydream” that you can only watch here. Has me drooling all over myself. For a pair of patent leather, red soled, silver studded, Christian Louboutin tap shoes. [sans the tap]

What do you do when these puppies grace your presence? You sell your soul to the shoe devil and make an arrangement with him to do absolutely anything you can to get your hands on the Christian Louboutin ‘Rollerball’ studded flats. I would even give up both legs for these shoes!

I’m with you Tommy, too bad not even my soul is worth that $995. And I’m far too squeamish to sell a kidney.